Czech Republic Planted Nearly 40,000 Hectares of Forests in 2022
In 2022, the Czech Republic planted almost 40,000 hectares of new forests, marking the second-highest count since 1964. This figure fell only 709 hectares short of the record established in 2020. Out of the total 225,928 saplings utilized for this afforestation effort, two-thirds were deciduous trees. Among the various regions, Vysočina took the lead in reforestation activities. Providing insight, Josef Kahuda, a statistician employed at the Czech Statistical Office, pointed out that the average sapling usage per hectare stood at 5,705. For deciduous trees, this number rose to 7,248, while for conifers, it was slightly lower at 4,205. Predominantly, the trees chosen for planting were beech and oak, accounting for 28% and 23% respectively. Notably, spruce saw a modest increase in its portion of all saplings, climbing from 19.7% in 2020 to 19.9%. Despite these statistics, spruce remained the most prevalent tree type, occupying nearly one-third of all newly reforested lands. Conifers emerged as the dominant presence among the freshly established wooded areas. The evolving climate poses a significant risk to forest soils. The strategy of tree planting is not the solitary means of fostering forests; natural regeneration, where new growth emerges from wind-borne or fallen seeds from parent trees,...
